The MikroTik CRS504 is a highly compact, energy-efficient, and designed to bring 100 Gigabit networking to a wider range of users, from advanced home labs and small businesses to ISPs and data centers looking for cost-effective edge solutions.
It's essentially a high-performance fiber switch with some hardware-accelerated routing capabilities.
🚀 Blazing-Fast 100 Gigabit Connectivity
4x 100 Gigabit QSFP28 Ports: This is the core strength of the CRS504.3It provides four direct 100 Gbps fiber connections. These ports are incredibly versatile and can also be used with breakout cables to provide:
16x 25 Gigabit SFP28 links: Each 100G QSFP28 port is internally connected to four 25 Gigabit lines, allowing you to effectively get up to 16 individual 25GbE fiber interfaces from a single switch using breakout cables.
Mixed configurations: You can mix and match 100G, 40G, 25G, 10G, or even 1G connections on different ports as needed, using appropriate transceivers and breakout cables.
Massive Throughput: The switch is built around a powerful Marvell Prestera 98DX4310 switch chip, which ensures non-blocking Layer 1, Layer 2, and hardware-offloaded Layer 3 throughput of hundreds of gigabits per second. This means data moves at wire speed.
🧠 Intelligent Network Management with RouterOS
RouterOS v7 (License Level 5): This provides comprehensive Layer 2 switching features (VLANs, ACLs, LACP, MLAG, Jumbo Frames) and also supports hardware-offloaded Layer 3 routing. While the internal CPU (a 650 MHz MIPSBE single-core) is modest, the hardware offloading ensures that common routing tasks like inter-VLAN routing are handled at wire speed.
Management Port: Includes a dedicated 10/100 Mbps Ethernet port for out-of-band management, ensuring you can access the switch even if there are issues on the high-speed data ports.
Console Port: For direct command-line access for troubleshooting and initial setup.
💡 Unique Features & Reliability
Compact and Energy-Efficient: Despite its immense performance, the CRS504 is surprisingly small and has low power consumption (around 25W without attachments). This makes it suitable for environments where space and power are concerns.
Multiple Powering Options: Offers high flexibility with power inputs:
Dual Hot-Swappable AC Power Supplies (on the "IN" model): Critical for high availability in data centers and server rooms.
PoE-in (802.3bt): Can be powered over Ethernet on the management port.
DC Jack and 2-pin Terminal: Provide additional flexible power input options.
🏢 Ideal Use Cases
Affordable 100 Gigabit Uplinks: The most common use is to provide cost-effective 100 Gigabit uplinks in existing 10 Gigabit or 25 Gigabit networks.
Data Center Top-of-Rack (ToR) / Edge Switch: Excellent for connecting high-performance servers and storage arrays in a rack with 25GbE interfaces (using breakout cables from the 100G ports) and then uplink to the data center core via 100GbE.
Home Lab / Prosumer 100 Gigabit Networking: A game-changer for enthusiasts who want to build incredibly fast home networks, connecting powerful workstations or NAS devices with 25GbE or 100GbE.
ISP / WISP (Wireless ISP) Edge Aggregation: For smaller ISPs or WISPs, it can serve as a powerful aggregation point for customer traffic, especially the outdoor version for tower deployments.
High-Bandwidth Media/Research Networks: Suitable for environments like genomics data networks or video production studios where massive amounts of data need to be moved quickly between devices.
Outdoor Event Networking: The IP66-rated outdoor model is perfect for temporary or permanent outdoor installations requiring high-speed fiber backbone.
In essence, the MikroTik CRS504 breaks barriers by making high-speed 100 Gigabit networking accessible and versatile, offering a powerful, compact, and often weatherproof solution for a variety of demanding network applications.
The MikroTik CRS504 is a highly compact, energy-efficient, and designed to bring 100 Gigabit networking to a wider range of users, from advanced home labs and small businesses to ISPs and data centers looking for cost-effective edge solutions.
It's essentially a high-performance fiber switch with some hardware-accelerated routing capabilities.
🚀 Blazing-Fast 100 Gigabit Connectivity
4x 100 Gigabit QSFP28 Ports: This is the core strength of the CRS504.3It provides four direct 100 Gbps fiber connections. These ports are incredibly versatile and can also be used with breakout cables to provide:
16x 25 Gigabit SFP28 links: Each 100G QSFP28 port is internally connected to four 25 Gigabit lines, allowing you to effectively get up to 16 individual 25GbE fiber interfaces from a single switch using breakout cables.
Mixed configurations: You can mix and match 100G, 40G, 25G, 10G, or even 1G connections on different ports as needed, using appropriate transceivers and breakout cables.
Massive Throughput: The switch is built around a powerful Marvell Prestera 98DX4310 switch chip, which ensures non-blocking Layer 1, Layer 2, and hardware-offloaded Layer 3 throughput of hundreds of gigabits per second. This means data moves at wire speed.
🧠 Intelligent Network Management with RouterOS
RouterOS v7 (License Level 5): This provides comprehensive Layer 2 switching features (VLANs, ACLs, LACP, MLAG, Jumbo Frames) and also supports hardware-offloaded Layer 3 routing. While the internal CPU (a 650 MHz MIPSBE single-core) is modest, the hardware offloading ensures that common routing tasks like inter-VLAN routing are handled at wire speed.
Management Port: Includes a dedicated 10/100 Mbps Ethernet port for out-of-band management, ensuring you can access the switch even if there are issues on the high-speed data ports.
Console Port: For direct command-line access for troubleshooting and initial setup.
💡 Unique Features & Reliability
Compact and Energy-Efficient: Despite its immense performance, the CRS504 is surprisingly small and has low power consumption (around 25W without attachments). This makes it suitable for environments where space and power are concerns.
Multiple Powering Options: Offers high flexibility with power inputs:
Dual Hot-Swappable AC Power Supplies (on the "IN" model): Critical for high availability in data centers and server rooms.
PoE-in (802.3bt): Can be powered over Ethernet on the management port.
DC Jack and 2-pin Terminal: Provide additional flexible power input options.
🏢 Ideal Use Cases
Affordable 100 Gigabit Uplinks: The most common use is to provide cost-effective 100 Gigabit uplinks in existing 10 Gigabit or 25 Gigabit networks.
Data Center Top-of-Rack (ToR) / Edge Switch: Excellent for connecting high-performance servers and storage arrays in a rack with 25GbE interfaces (using breakout cables from the 100G ports) and then uplink to the data center core via 100GbE.
Home Lab / Prosumer 100 Gigabit Networking: A game-changer for enthusiasts who want to build incredibly fast home networks, connecting powerful workstations or NAS devices with 25GbE or 100GbE.
ISP / WISP (Wireless ISP) Edge Aggregation: For smaller ISPs or WISPs, it can serve as a powerful aggregation point for customer traffic, especially the outdoor version for tower deployments.
High-Bandwidth Media/Research Networks: Suitable for environments like genomics data networks or video production studios where massive amounts of data need to be moved quickly between devices.
Outdoor Event Networking: The IP66-rated outdoor model is perfect for temporary or permanent outdoor installations requiring high-speed fiber backbone.
In essence, the MikroTik CRS504 breaks barriers by making high-speed 100 Gigabit networking accessible and versatile, offering a powerful, compact, and often weatherproof solution for a variety of demanding network applications.
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